Chain Pickerel

DESCRIPTION. Chain pickerels appear similar to pikes and muskies. The best way to identify a pickerel is by its markings. Its sides are yellowish to greenish brown and are overlayed with a chain-link-like pattern of black lines unlike the tiger stripes and spots on other species. Pickerels also have fully scaled cheeks and gill covers. If caught in winter, the meat is white, flaky and tasty. WHEN AND WHERE. Pickerel, like many freshwater fish, relate to cover, such as bushes, logs and grass.

Temperatures listed below were obtained at 11 a.m. Wednesday. Ches. Bay Bridge-Tunnel 60.1 degrees Kiptopeke 57.9 degrees Oregon Inlet 64. degrees Virginia Beach 65.1 degrees KAYAK FISHING Striped bass action remains hot at all the local bridges, as well as places like the York River and Poquoson Flats, where anglers are finding a few puppy drum and gray trout mixed in. The big puppy drum bite remains in the York River...

1. This fish is often misidentified as a pike. There are a few easy ways to tell them apart. Look at the fish's dorsal fin, which, on both, is situated well back on body. If the fin is unspotted and tapers off in a half moon shape then you've got yourself a pickerel. Pickerel have scales on their gill plates and cheeks. Pikes do not. The markings on a pickerel are well defined. 2. The pickerel is a hard-fighting fish that receives a bad rap in southeastern Virginia because most fishermen think of it as an incidental catch, thus a hindrance.

Temperatures listed below were obtained at 11 a.m. Wednesday. Ches. Bay Bridge-Tunnel 76.0 degrees Duck 76.0 degrees Kiptopeke 74.0 degrees Oregon Inlet 80.1 degrees Virginia Beach 79.0 degrees KAYAK REPORT Not a bad week on local waters for the kayak anglers. Reports of croakers, puppy drum, flounder, bluefish and stripers top the list. The best news is the huge croakers that have shown up on the York River. These scrappy fighters can be found on most of the deep water dropoffs, and the schools are almost entirely fish measuring 16 to 18 inches.

1. JAMES RIVER: A number of heavyweight blue catfish have been caught on cut shad. William Smith of Chesterfield caught two that weighed more than 30 pounds each. Dorsey Caudill of Chesterfield turned in a 15-pound, 5-ounce channel cat. 2. CHICKAHOMINY: Largemouth bass action on the river portion of the complex was slow. Catfish and bream were the top catches. On Chickahominy Lake, Ed Allen Jr. used a fly rod to catch 13 bass in two outings. Don Arthur, a guide from the Richmond area, reported his parties on the lake have caught bass, chain pickerel, striped bass, bowfin and catfish.

To the west, a thunderstorm was booming and that prompted a few of the fishermen on Little Creek Reservoir to call it a day. One had caught a chain pickerel and one keeper-size largemouth bass. Another duo was going home empty-handed. No matter. Bruce Ackert had a cheerful word of encouragement and a bit of fishing gossip for each. As manager of the fishing facility the James City County Department of Parks and Recreation maintains, Ackert considers it all in a day's work.

New flounder regulations went into effect on March 29. The minimum length for flounder is 17 inches, and the possession limit has been reduced to six fish per person per day, with no closed season the remainder of the year. CROAKERS Anglers fishing the shallower waters of the Rappahannock and Piankitank rivers are catching croakers using pieces of squid or bloodworms. Scattered catches are being caught from Hampton Bar and the James River. FLOUNDER The first weight citation (7 pounds)

CHAIN PICKEREL STATE RECORD. 7 pounds, 1 ounce caught at Douthat Lake in 1989 by Mark Anger. WORLD RECORD. 9 pounds, 6 ounces caught at Homersville, Ga., in 1961 by Baxley McQuaig Jr. BACKGROUND. This is a southern cousin of the northern pike. Its native range extends from Canada to Florida, though it's most common south of the Maxon-Dixon Line. Chain pickerel is part of the Esox family, along with northern pike and muskellunge. In fact, it's often confused for a northern pike.